Displaying items by tag: advisors

JPMorgan recently announced that they nabbed a $400 million team of financial advisors from Merrill Lynch. According to a press release announcing the move, The Karstaedt Group, which includes wealth advisors Marc Karstaedt, Daniel Zomback, and Raymond Lin and Client Associate Parker Jaques, joins JPMorgan Advisors in New York. JPMorgan says the team will report to regional director Keith Henry. Marc Karstaedt started his career in 1992 with Lehman Brothers and had stints at Citigroup and Morgan Stanley before joining Merrill in 2016. Zomback started in 2018 with AXA Advisors before joining Merrill in 2020. Lin began his career at Merrill in 2021. Merrill also lost an associate market manager to JPMorgan last month, when she left to oversee JPMorgan’s advisors in New York and New Jersey. However, Merrill 2022 had the “strongest year” in more than a decade in terms of hiring. Merrill Wealth Management’s president, Andy Sieg, said in a Q&A session following the firm’s quarterly earnings release two weeks ago, that the global wealth management and consumer-banking division ended the year with 19,273 advisors across its various channels. This was 2.3% higher than last year. Brian Moynihan, chief executive officer of Bank of America, Merrill’s parent company, also said last month that the firm plans to continue hiring financial advisors and private bankers, while JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said earlier this month that his firm is “still in hiring mode.”

Finsum:With JPMorgan still in hiring mode, the firm scooped up a $400 million team from Merrill Lynch, which is also continuing to hire advisors.

While bonds are generally known for their stability, 2022 marked a deviance from the norm. The question for advisors is, how should they approach 2023? Mariam Kamshad, head of portfolio strategy for Goldman Sachs personal financial management, and Guido Petrelli, CEO, and founder of Merlin Investor spoke to SmartAsset to provide some guidance. First advisors should expect a return to the norm. Kamshad said 2022 was an unusually bad environment for bonds with the Federal Reserve raising rates to a 15-year high. She believes that's unlikely to repeat and expects both yields and capital gains returns to stabilize. Second, advisors should pay attention to inflation and government bonds. Kamshad believes that inflation is still the biggest issue in the economy and expects it to continue slowing in 2023, which would likely slow interest rates. Her team considers duration risk a better bet than credit risk. Kamshad's team also recommends investors consider government bonds. The team expects intermediate Treasurys to outperform cash. They also expect municipal bonds to pick back up. Petrelli recommends following the unemployment rate and the quit rate as they are “good metrics for the strength of the economy overall and a window into where bonds are headed.” He believes a potential recession is one of the biggest questions facing the bond market. In a recession, Petrelli expects investors to favor short-term bonds.

Finsum:According to two portfolio analysts, advisors should expect a return to the norm for bonds, but they should also keep an eye on inflation, government bonds, and the jobs report.

Based on the results of a Broadridge survey fielded between September 29th to October 10th, advisors with a marketing strategy brought on an average of 41 new clients, compared to 17 new clients for advisors without a strategy. The survey queried 401 advisors overseeing at least $10 million in client assets. The survey also revealed an increase in marketing, as advisors spent an average of $743 in marketing for each new client and added 23 new clients on average over the past 12 months. Those figures are both up from last year when the average advisor spent $719 per client and gained 21 new customers. Kevin Darlington, general manager, and head of Broadridge Advisor Solutions had this to say about the results, “Having a defined marketing strategy, that is the single biggest differentiator [for] how the advisors that are reaching their growth goals [are] doing it. They're much more confident in reaching their goals, they're acquiring clients, and they're just getting much better ROI on their marketing.” The survey underscores the benefits of a well-executed marketing strategy. Gordon Abel, chief marketing officer of Dynasty Financial Partners, told Financial Advisor IQ, that “Advisors also need to remember that a marketing plan requires careful thought and patience.” He added, “Building awareness means familiarizing potential clients with the advisor's brand and name. They need to understand who you are and what you do.”

Finsum:A recent study revealed that advisors who have a well-executed marketing strategy get 2.4 times more new clients than advisors who don’t.

Rockefeller Capital Management recently announced that it has nabbed a team of advisors from UBS. Ladage, Smith, Garcia Wealth Partners joined Rockefeller Global Family Office in Austin, Texas. According to the company, this marks Rockefeller’s first private advisor team to be headquartered in the city. The team is led by managing directors and private advisors Alex Ladage and Landon Smith, and also includes senior vice president and private advisor Jorge Garcia, as well as senior client associates Monica Vallejo and Carl Pavlich. Ladage started his career in 2001 at Merrill Lynch and joined UBS in 2009. Smith began his career in 2003 at Edward Jones. He moved to Merrill in 2005 and joined UBS in 2009. According to Forbes, Ladage’s team managed $1.4 billion as of April 2022. Christopher Dupuy, co-president of Rockefeller Global Family Office, said the following in a press release announcing the move, “As we’ve expanded the reach of Rockefeller across the United States, we see significant opportunity to deliver premium and differentiated wealth management services to clients and prospects in Greater Austin and beyond.” In September, Rockefeller CEO Greg Fleming told Reuters that the company aims to more than double its assets under management over the next three to five years.

Finsum:With Rockefeller Capital Management looking to increase its assets under management by more than double over the next few years, the firm lured a $1.4 billion advisor team away from UBS.

LPL recently announced that it nabbed two advisors from Securities America. Eric Fenton and Rodney Wangler, who operate as Fenton Wangler Financial, and are based in Vancouver, Washington, will link up with the JFC Advisor Network, which conducts brokerage and advisory business through LPL Financial. The duo managed a combined $300 million in advisory, brokerage, and retirement plan assets at Securities America. Fenton has been in the industry since 1989. He started with Mutual Service Corporation but has also been affiliated with The Prudential Insurance Company of America, Pruco Securities Corporation, Mony Securities Corporation, Carillon Investments, Sunset Financial Services, SII Investments, and Securities America. Wangler started his career in 1996 with Pruco Securities Corporation. He has also been registered with Mony Securities Corporation, Carillon Investments, Sunset Financial Services, SII Investments, and Securities America. In a statement, Fenton had this to say about the move, “LPL invests heavily in its innovative technology, which is critical to keep pace in this ever-changing environment. We recognized that we needed a platform such as LPL’s ClientWorks where everything is connected, making it easier to do business. Our clients will also appreciate Account View, where they can easily view reports and account information in one place.”

Finsum:A duo from Securities America made the move to LPL due to the firm’s investments in innovative technology, which make it easier to do business.